Tarleton and Baylor meet midweek in Stephenville

Tarleton baseball is back in Stephenville for its final four games of the season, starting with the Baylor Bears on Tuesday night.

Tarleton welcomes another Power 5 team to the Tarleton Baseball Complex this season when TCU visited on April 4, where the Texans narrowly lost 9-8.

Tarleton is looking for its second win over Baylor after they previously beat the Bears 6-2 on April 25 to get the first win over a Power 5 team in program history.

Teams: Tarleton Texans (24-24, 8-17 WAC) vs. Baylor Bears (16-35, 6-18 Big 12)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex
Day and time: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m
Streaming platform: ESPN+

LIKELY STARTING PITCHERS (May 5-7):

TAR RHP Isiah Camp (Sr., 12.2 IP, 1-1, 7.11 ERA) vs. BU RHP Jared Matheson (Jr., 32.1 IP, 0-1, 4.73 ERA)

Matchup Notes

Tarleton returns home to host the Baylor Bears on Tuesday night in the final Wednesday contest of the season.
The Texans host Baylor on Tuesday and Sam Houston this weekend to close out the 2023 season. Tarleton is coming off a series at Abilene Christian where they won the series opener and then lost the next two games.
Tarleton earned its first-ever win over a Power 5 program in the first meeting between Baylor and Tarleton this season. Tarleton won 6-2 on April 25 at Baylor Ballpark.
Baylor swept the series at TCU last weekend and closes out the season with a three-game series at home against CSU Bakersfield.

Quick hits
Cris Enriquez helped the Texans to a win over ACU on Friday. California’s Fontana launched a two-run home run in a 5-5 game in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. The home run was enough to lead the Texans to the series opener. The home run was the only hit of the series for Enriquez, and it couldn’t have been more timely.
Jack Wagner finished the ACU series 4-11 (.363) to lead the Texans offense. Wagner has 13 multi-hit games, 14 multi-hit games and leads the Texans in home runs (15), RBI (55), slugging (.727), walks (26), on-base percentage (.457) and OPS. (1.184).
Isiah Camp will get the start for Tarleton against Baylor. The senior will make his third start of the season after making his season debut on March 7 in his return from injury in 2022. He has a 7.11 ERA in 12.2 innings with eight strikeouts to 11 walks.
Reece Elston tied a career high with five strikeouts Sunday against ACU. He allowed no runs in 2.2 innings allowing a single hit.
Six Texans graduated at Tarleton State University’s commencement last Friday. Isiah Camp, Alec Williams, Devon Patel, Peyton Hutson, Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo and Mason Crews all walked Memorial Stadium before the game at ACU and became Tarleton State alumni.

Considerable

FIRST POWER 5 VITTORY

With a 6-2 win over Baylor in Waco on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, Tarleton baseball picked up its first win over a Power 5 team in program history. The Texans struck first in the first inning and never relinquished the lead. Pierce’s McElye That played a big part in the win, as he struck out a season-high 10 in 5.0 innings with no walks. McElyea threw the first strike in 18 of 23 at-bats.

CHECK WAC

Tarleton has had some strong performers in conference play, with four different relievers posting sub-5.00 ERAs in WAC play. Zane Badmaev has posted a 3.78 ERA and 18 strikeouts to four walks in 16.2 innings. Zach Poe He has a 1.98 ERA in 10 appearances. Jake Burcham has a 2.79 ERA in seven appearances, Reece Elston has a 2.87 ERA in seven appearances.
Offensively, Alec Williams leads WAC games with .362 average to pair with .470 on-base percentage and 11 stolen bases. Trace Morrison is hitting .323 and has a team-high 31 hits in a major league game. Jack Wagner has driven in the most runs with 22 RBIs, followed by Mason Hammonds with 14.

TO MOW
Zane Badmaev has been as hot as can be out of the bullpen this season for the Texans. The senior RHP has 42 strikeouts compared to just seven walks while sporting a 3.21 ERA and has allowed just four runs over his last 10 innings. Badmaev has walked just four batters in 16.2 innings in conference play. He has appeared mostly as Tarleton’s late-game de facto closer.

STACKING in WAC

Tarleton is first in steals (96), second in team on-base percentage (.394) and triples (16), fourth in batting average (.294) and fourth in runs scored (351). On the pitching side, the Texans are second in opponent batting average (.267), fifth in ERA (5.78).
Cooper Shook is second in the WAC with 22 stolen bases. Jack Wagner is second in slugging (.727), fourth in home runs (15) and fourth in RBI (55), Trace Morrison is 12th in batting average (.359). Hunter’s Day is tied for 10th with five wins, has the 11th best ERA (4.57).

NEXT

Tarleton hosts the Sam Houston Bearkats in Tarleton’s final three games of the season. The series runs from Thursday to Saturday, with Saturday’s game being senior day. First Thursday is at 6pm on ESPN+